Earlier Work

Jogglebox 1

There was a time in the not too distant past when Adobe Flash was all the rage in web design. For both functional and aesthetic reasons Flash is now flash in the pan, still hanging on as a video format but virtually dead as a website development platform. While its demise is well-warrented (it is notoriously buggy, crashes a lot, and is deeply challenging from an accessibility standpoint...to name just a few of the problems) I confess to having a bit of a soft spot in my heart for it as a visual and interactive experience. As such I have kept my old Jogglebox site, rendered all in Flash, still up and running long past the day when it was my primary online portfolio.

The site remains of worth not only because it demos an aesthetic of mine that is a challenge to reproduce with other platforms but also because there is older work on there that is still worth showing to prospective clients. The visual style of the site, and the art featured, represent a bit more of the non-commercial end of my portfolio spectrum. You might say, to use a phrase I'm not all together fond of, this is some of my "edgier" work. Case in point is an off-center comic strip I used to do called The Homeless Tenant. Charlie Brown it ain't, as you'll see.

There is also work on the old site which demo skill sets that aren's as prominent on this site. A series of CD covers I did, for example, for a band called Truth Detection Labs (TDL) features some of my pencil drawings, and there are a lot more examples of my Adobe Illustrator skills, such as the CD design work I did for another band, Shiva Speedway. TDL wanted something organic and personal, while also a bit enigmatic. Shiva Speedway by contrast, an all-girl hardcore punk band, wanted what you'd expect...good old fashioned nihilism.

So have a seat on the Wayback Machine and check out the old site. FYI the three little squares underneath the rotating fauna (you'll see what I mean) are the site's navigation. Part of the aesthetic of the day was to make the navigation a bit of an easter egg, something you had to discover. It made for a more playful and whimsical experience...a good aesthetic for edgier art but not the best choice perhaps for more commercial work, hence the new site design.

Forte Archicture + Design

Like the original Jogglebox site, I created the portfolio site for Architect and Designer Ed Forte entirely in Flash. It shares with the Jogglebox site a fluid and dynamic visual aesthetic that underscores the sense of design and structure that the client wanted.

MiM: Music is Medicine

Before there was mim.fm there was MiM: Music is Medicine. Same project, but with a different name and website (musicismedicine.org, which now redirects to mim.fm). There was not much to note about the old site, except for a promo video which I wrote and produced. I would say the piece was made on a shoestring budget, but I couldn't even afford shoestrings at the time. As such, though not the highest-quality production, I think there is good bang for the buck.

The photos used in the video are mainly creative common images but a handful were proprietary and I secured the necessary permissions. The audio track, titled "Love is What's Missing" by Clarence Simpson, likewise required permission to secure. FYI, those dulcet tones of the video's narration were the vocal stylings of yours truly. Jogglebox really is a full-service studio.

Tools used:

Adobe PremiereGarage BandCamStudio (video screen capture software)

MIT

For over 10 years the MIT Library System (first at the Rotch Art and Architecture Library, than at the HaydenHumanities Library) was my "day" job while I built my freelance design business. Producing a host of design materials, including maps, signs, posters and flyers, in support of the library was one of my primary responsibilities.

In many ways working for MIT was the diametric opposite of my freelance experience, though no less enjoyable. MIT is a highly structured top-down institution where working within a system and being the proverbial "team player" were the paramount qualities that enabled success.

The following are few samples of the work I created at MIT over the years.